Remittances Short Changed

For the Mission District’s many money wiring services, Fridays once meant payday and local immigrants lined up to send money home. Now pockets and narrow halls are empty. Even the cashiers have watched their hours and their paychecks dwindle.

“It’s been pretty bad the last six months, now people send half, a third, or even a fourth of what they used to send before,” said Rosa Herrera, a clerk at Alamar International Services at 2390 Mission St. who works several hours a week less nowadays. “I have one client who used to sent $1,500 a month, now he sends only $200.”